The Dark Side of the Moon H2O&MM Xover
by mermaidbyheart
Summary: Zac and the girls are somehow thrown into the H2O world. Trying to figure out a way back home, they have to cope with many complications. They'll face a lot of difficulties, including being affected by the crystal necklaces. The H2O gang will also face new challanges like the stone of the trident and many more. What will be the reaction of the two gangs when they finally meet?
1. Chapter 1 TDSOTM

**Author's** **note:**

**Just so you know I'm a Zevie fan, but I had to have them break up because it fits with the storyline. Please try to understand. Much love xXx**

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><p><span><strong>The Dark side of the Moon<strong>

_"There is no _dark_ side of the moon really. As a matter of fact it is whole _black_!", _Pink Floyd

**01.**

Zac walked inside the "Ocean Café" and tried to look everywhere else but at Evie who was arranging some of the new stock in her shop.

He still felt guilty for breaking up with her about a month ago, but he knew it was all for the better. She was a really nice person, and he really cared about her, but Evie never seemed to completely understand why he wanted to stay a merman. When he tried to explain her he realized their relationship was going nowhere and he told her it would be better if they don't see each other anymore. What's more when they broke up he expected to feel devastated, but the feeling never came. Instead he felt relieved. Now he was spending his days swimming with Lyla, Nixie and Serena, and taking classes with them from Rita. He was glad to have them as friends, especially Lyla, because she seemed to understand him best.

A sigh escaped his lips when walked to the bar where David was, passing through the table Cam was sitting at, without acknowledging his presence. Cam looked at his direction but Zac never responded to his look.

"Hi, Zac." David greeted him.

"Hi, David." He responded and asked David to make him a drink.

He then walked to one of the tables furthest from Cam's and sat down. Not long after, Serena, Nixie and Lyla showed up. Serena went to David and Lyla and Nixie went to Zac. They greeted him with smiles on their faces, but when he briefly responded Lyla noticed he was distracted.

"What's up with you?" She asked him a-matter-of-factly.

"Nothing." He said and shook his head, then turned to look at the two girls. "Are you up for a swim?"

"Of course." Lyla smiled, her eyes sparkling.

They waited for Zac to finish his drink and for Serena to stop singing and walked out of the café together. Then the four of them dived in and headed towards Mako. That night was not an ordinary full moon, but a lunar eclipse and unfortunately they lost track of time and after swimming for about three hours, the three mermaids and the merman headed straight to the moon pool. When they arrived something caught Nixie's attention.

"Look." She said. "The stone from the trident! It's glowing!"

The others looked at the same direction and realized she was right. The big oval stone that they had decided to keep after the trident was destroyed was spreading blue light all around the place.

"I think we should go." Zac said. "I don't want to mess with that thing or what's left of it again. It's too powerful."

"Zac's right." Lyla said. "We better go home."

Serena only nodded and the three turned to dive in.

"Nixie?" Serena and the others turned to call her and their eyes widened. "Nixie, no, don't…!"

But it was too late. Nixie's fingers curled around the circular stone and just then the moon shined above the cave before becoming completely black. It made a connection with the stone in Nixie's hand and the four of them suddenly were surrounded of a water wall that was spinning around faster and faster and was pulling them under the water with enormous strength. In the next moment everything turned into the brightest light and they disappeared under the water…

Suddenly everything stopped and it was like nothing ever happened. With one difference though. Lyla was the first to crab the surface followed by Nixie, then Zac and finally Serena.

"Are you ok?" Lyla breathed like she had run for miles.

"Yeah, you?" Zac asked and she nodded.

Nixie looked around the place.

"Wait a second, the moon pool...it looks different."

They all looked at their surroundings. The pool of water was not rectangular, but circular and the walls around it were wrecked from an explosion.

"Where are we?" Asked Serena, her voice shaking.

"I have no idea." Lyla answered still focusing on the place.

"We have to investigate." Zac said and pulled himself out of water.

He then pulled out the others and helped them dry off along with Lyla. Once with their legs they walked around.

"I think we should…" Lyla started, but Nixie motioned her "quiet" with her finger and pointed towards the water.

Four shapes had appeared there. Zac and the girls quickly used their magic to become invisible. The four shapes crabbed the surface and it turned out they were four mermaids. One brunette and three blonds. Because of being in the water, the blonds looked similar.

"That's not fair, you guys cut me off again." The dark-haired girl protested.

"You're so slow that I always forget you're with us too." One of the blonds said sarcastically and they all laughed.

"Shut up." The brunette said, but a smile appeared on her face.

"Guys, it's so good to be together again." One of the other two blonds said and the others gave her smiles.

"Yeah, we missed you so much! Even Rikki here", She pointed towards the blond next to her, "couldn't stop complaining about not having you here to help us with the homework!" The brunette said.

"Rikki? Homework?! You're hilarious!"

"Hey!" The one who was supposed to be Rikki said. "Believe it or not I have my moments sometimes."

The other three girls rolled their eyes and everybody burst into laughter.

"I think it's time for us to go." The blond in the far right who was silent most of the time said. "It's getting late."

"Bella's right." The brunette nodded. "I'm up for another race and this time I'll win!"

"Dream on, Cleo." The girl called Rikki said before they dived in and disappeared under the water.

Zac and the three mermaids reappeared again. Their faces were expressing both shock and excitement at the same time.

"Are those mermaids from your pod?" Zac asked the girls, but they shook their heads.

"We've never seen them before." Lyla said.

"Maybe we should go find them and talk to them." Serena suggested.

"And tell them what exactly?" Nixie said with her eyebrows up.

"Let's just swim out of here." Zac said. "We can go to the cafe and discuss what we'll do."

"Good idea." Lyla nodded.

They all looked at each other and dived in together.

{ * }

Meanwhile Cleo, Emma, Bella and Rikki walked inside "Rikki's". They looked around and spotted Lewis, Will and Ash sitting at one of the tables and talking. Rikki went to get drinks while the others went to the boys.

"I hope your little discussion has everything to do with us, otherwise.." Cleo joked and they all laughed.

"Don't worry." Lewis told her and winked the boys.

"We saw that!" Emma bit him but then smiled.

Something caught Bella's attention.

"Guys, look over there!"

The others turned their head in the direction Bella was pointing at.

"That's not possible!" Cleo said.

"It can't be how it looks!" Emma said her voice chocked.

"I can't believe this!" Will and Lewis said simultaneously.

"There has to be an explanation!" Ash concluded.

They all couldn't take their eyes off the kissing couple behind the bar. Her eyes were closed because of the sudden surprise when he leaned and pressed his lips onto hers. She quickly backed away breaking the kiss.

"What the bloody hell was that?" She asked trying to take a breath.

"You liked it, Rikki, admit it."

"Zane, we are over! How many times do I have to tell you that?!" She said firmly quickly getting her conscience back.

He only smirked and kissed her again, even more roughly, putting his hand on her waist and pulling her to him, closing the space between them. She pushed him away.

"Stop! What do you think you're doing?!"

He leaned again, but this time instead of kissing her lips, he pressed his on her neck causing her moan slightly.

Not removing his hand from her waist, he slid it up, pressing her body next to his and kissing her neck again. He then opened the office door behind him and pulled her in, this time however she didn't protested.

Cleo gasped and muttered "Unbelievable" to herself. Lewis, Ash and Will were blinking blankly and Bella and Emma suddenly had become speechless staring at the closed office door.

"I can't believe them!" Emma was the first two speak after a few minutes in awkward silence.

Just then with the group not noticing the door of the cafe opened and four people walked in.

{ * }

Zac and the girls shoved their way out of the water at the first secluded beach they found and they went at the direction of what they knew to be the "Ocean café". When they reached it however, they noticed the place was completely different and was named "Rikki's".

"What the hell happened to the "Ocean Café"?" Lyla groaned.

"I have no idea." Nixie answered her checking out the place with her eyes.

"Hang on. Isn't Rikki the name of one of those girls who were at the moon pool earlier?" Zac asked.

"You're right." Serena answered.

"What do we do now?" Lyla asked.

"I say we go in." Zac told her and started walking towards the entrance, the others following close behind him.

He walked in followed by the girls and they looked around. Their look fell over the small group chatting with each other.

"Look over there. Those are the girls we saw at the moon pool." Nixie said pointing at them.

"Let's take a seat." Lyla said and they sat behind the table of the group so they could hear what the others were saying.

"These are only three of the girls we saw at the moon pool, the forth one's not here." Zac whispered.

The girls nodded and they all went silent so they could hear the other's conversation.

"I can't believe those two." They heard a feminine voice say.

"Tell me about it." A man's voice commented.

"I've never seen anyone else to lose it like Rikki does when she's around Zane." They heard one of the other girls say.

"Rikki said the same thing about Bella, remember?!" A boy cut her off followed by a laughter.

"Oh, really?!" The third girl bit him. "So, Lewis, tell me, when did Rikki said that about me?!"

"It was on one of our first full moon sleepovers together. If I remember clearly Will came to talk to you and Rikki commented how you lose it every time when he's around you."

"Was that the time when the tentacle kidnapped me?" The voice that belonged to Bella asked.

"Exactly."

"So, that was the reason you disappeared like that?" A male's voice said.

"Yeah."

"I'm sorry about that. It was my fault; I took you outside to talk to you."

"It's ok, Will, you didn't know about us being mermaids back then."

A sound of people kissing each other followed. Zac, Lyla, Nixie and Serena exchanged shocked looks. Those boys _knew_? And there was a _water tentacle_?! They hurried out of the café and Lyla was the first to speak.

"_What the hell is going on here_?"


	2. Chapter 2 TDSOTM

**Chapter 2.**

After what they heard back at the café, Zac and the girls were sitting on the beach, trying to figure out what to do.

"I think the best thing will be to go and talk to them." Serena said even though she herself wasn't so sure about it.

"Forget it, Serena." Lyla told her. "That's not going to happen."

"Why don't we just follow them around?" Nixie asked and everyone looked at her. "Like we followed Zac."

"Yeah, we can do that, but Zac was _one_ person, and there are _six_ of them."

"Actually, I don't think it's such a bad idea." Zac suddenly said. "We won't follow they boys, we'll follow the girls. They're only _four_ like us. Each of us can follow one girl."

"No, Zac, it's too dangerous." Lyla protested. "Besides we must stick together until we figure out what had happened to us."

"But that may take months. And besides they're like us. If we get to know them better and they turned out to be nice people we can ask them for help."

"I don't like this." Serena stated. "What if while we're following them we got lost? What then?"

"Then we go to the nearest beach and go to the moon pool." Zac said. "Come on guys, it'll be fun."

"Fine." Lyla sighed.

They went back to the café. The group of the mermaids and their boyfriends was still there, only now there were two more people sitting with them. A girl with curly blond hair and shining blue eyes and a brunette boy who couldn't take his eyes off that girl. Zac and the girls took a good look at them, before walking out again.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do. Nixie you'll follow the blond that had her hands wrapped around her brunette boyfriend. Serena you'll follow the brunette one. Lyla you'll follow the other blond who was kissing her blond boyfriend. And I'll follow the curly blond."

The girls nodded.

"So, the plan is to follow them everywhere they go, right?" Nixie asked.

Zac nodded.

"Wait, what about their homes?" Lyla suddenly asked.

"Well, if there's a way, try to sneak in and look around without being noticed." Zac answered her.

"And what if we get caught?" Serena asked.

"We'll try to not let that happen." Lyla told her.

"Yes, but if it _does_ happen?"

"We'll figure something out." Nixie told her.

All four of them shared a worried look.

"They're walking out." Zac said and before they all became invisible he whispered, "Remember, we must not be seen!"

Once they were invisible they waited for the eight people's next move…

{ * }

"I can't believe you actually _let him back_ again!" Bella said to Rikki. – I mean he _kissed_ her for goodness sake!

"It's only on a trial basis." Rikki responded. "If he makes _one _wrong move, it's over and this time _forever_."

"Yeah, you're saying that now." Emma teased her, rolling her eyes.

"Can we change the subject please?" Rikki asked them.

"Yeah, actually there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Lewis found something interesting. It's a book like the one with the potions, but…"

"Not _again_." Rikki groaned, making Emma laugh.

_"But_ this one's for cultivating our powers." Cleo finished not paying attention to them.

"What do you mean by _not again_?" Bella asked curious.

"I mean that last time when Lewis was playing with such stupid book the whole situation became a complete mess." Rikki stated.

"Excuse me, but if I remember correct the potion turned out to be working and if you hadn't heated it up it wouldn't grow up to the point of filling up the whole café!" Emma rolled her eyes.

Bella bursted in laughter and the other girls followed. When they calmed down Rikki asked Cleo.

"Why didn't Lewis tell us about the book himself?"

"Because he knew what your reaction would be and he wanted me to do it. He probably hoped if I told you I'd make you take part in it." Cleo explained her patiently.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I don't want anything to do with his stupid experiments so count me out of it!" Rikki stated.

"Rikki, please, do it for me." Cleo begged her.

"No, Cleo!"

_"Please_."

"I said _no_!"

"Fine." Cleo sighed. "But when we succeed, you'll be sorry you hadn't tried it out with us."

"I'll live with it." Rikki rolled her eyes.

It was starting to get late.

"I think we should be heading home." Emma stated. "It's 6:00 p.m."

"Already?" Rikki groaned. "The time really _does_ fly."

Emma smirked.

"We can have a sleepover at my house tomorrow. My parents would be gone for two days."

"Great!" Rikki smiled a little overenthusiastic.

"We'll be there, Em." Cleo smiled to her.

"Well, I guess it's settled then." Bella added.

A group hug followed, with an unnoticed wincing from Rikki and the girls got on their ways home. This was like a queue for the four invisible people to go after their targets…

{ * }

Lyla hurried after Bella, Nixie – after Emma, Serena – after Cleo and Zac – after Rikki.

Serena, still invisible, was walking after Cleo for about a few minutes before they reached Cleo's house. Cleo walked in, and Serena quickly got in after her. She looked at the house. It was not very big, still not very small and was beautiful. Cleo went in the kitchen greeting her dad and Sam.

"Where's Kim?" She asked them a bit surprised her little sister was not home yet.

"She's staying at a friend's house." Don answered her sounding nerveous.

"I see." Cleo nodded.

The three had dinner together and she and Sam tried to cheer Don up a bit and distract him of thinking about Kim. Then everybody got to bed and Serena sneaked to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Meanwhile Bella had to stay at the café for a sound check and Lyla stayed too. She was looking around the whole café trying to get more familiar with it when she heard someone saying:

"What would you like?"

She turned around in a flash. A black-haired boy with dreamy brown eyes was standing in front of her.

"Sorry?" She asked.

"What would you like?" He repeated the question.

"I…um…nothing. I'm just waiting for someone." She quickly composed herself.

The boy walked away and she stared after him. "_He's handsome_", she thought and a mischievous smile appeared on her lips. That's when Bella's rehearsal ended and Lyla quickly left the café, becoming invisible and following close after Bella.

Nixie had to walk after Emma, watching her kissing with Ash and them both being all lovey-dovey and stuff. That annoyed her a lot and she was really thankful when finally they reached Emma's house and they said "Bye" to each other. Nixie followed Emma inside and when she saw Eliot coming towards his sister she had a bit of a flashback remembering Ben. She smiled sadly I at the thought of him. Emma speaking got her out of her thoughts.

"Eliot, I want to let you know that Rikki, Cleo and Bella will be staying over tomorrow."

"Ok, sis." He smiled to her and went to take something from the fridge.

Emma walked up to her room and Nixie followed her. She took out one of her photo albums, sat on her bed and opened it. On the first page there was a photo of her with her family and under it a photo of her with Rikki and Cleo. Emma touched the photo and smiled. Going through the pages of the album many different emotions surfaced back up in her heart. Nixie was looking at her and couldn't help but feel sad because of missing her own pod. She wished they'd accepted her, Serena and Lyla back. She wished Zac had never fallen into the moon pool. She wished none of this had happened.

Zac was the one who got to follow Rikki, by his own will. Something in her had caught his attention when he saw her for first time at the moon pool. Even though in the water she seemed familiar to the other girls, it could be easily told she was quite different from them and Zac felt that. He liked the fact he'd get to follow her, because that way he'd have the chance to find out more about her and to get to know her better. But what he didn't know was she was the smartest of all and could easily tell when she was being followed.

When Bella, came back to the café, Emma left with Ash and Cleo got on her way home, Rikki started walking to her trailer, but she felt someone was following her. Zac was deep in his thoughts and didn't notice that suddenly she disappeared. He hesitated whether he would make himself visible again and look for her, but he gave up that thought. He looked around and spotted Rikki behind a tree as if she was looking for something, and her crystal necklace was leaning forward.

Zac walked towards her, not noticing the crystal started glowing and he suddenly felt his legs started giving him up. He didn't understand what was happening and made an effort to continue walking towards Rikki, but he only felt weaker and stopped. Rikki noticed her necklace was glowing and started at it. That was the first time it did something like that. She didn't waste time and quickly dove in the water. Zac felt his strength coming back and feeling better enough, he dove in after her. She was the fastest swimmer Zac had ever seen. Even Lyla, Nixie and Serena weren't as fast as this girl was. He could barely chase her, but still he managed to follow her to the moon pool.

There she had already dried herself and was walking around the place looking at her crystal that was now back to normal. "_Weird_", Rikki thought. She was pacing around the cave with Zac watching her, for a few minutes when something caught her eyes. Zac followed her look and shocked he realized it was the stone from the trident Nixie had forgotten there. Before he could do anything to stop her Rikki leaned to take a better look at it. Her necklace started sparkling again, connecting to the stone and a beam of light burst from it, hitting Rikki and she fell on the ground.

Zac looked at her terrified. He quickly dove in. He knew if he wanted to save this girl, _Rikki_, on time he had to find Lyla, Nixie and Serena. He had to do it before it was too late…


	3. Chapter 3 TDSOTM

**Hi guys! I'm sorry for the delay of chapter 3, but here it is now! Hope you'll like it! Read and please Review! Have a good day everyone!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 3.<strong>

Zac sped through the waves. He got out of the water at the first empty place he found, dried himself and hurried to the café. He ran inside looking around. He noticed one of the blond girls was on stage singing and moved his eyes around the tables until he finally spotted Lyla and ran to her.

"We have to find Nixie and Serena. _Now_." He whispered in her ear.

She quickly stood up and followed him outside.

"What happened?" She asked him.

"The girl I had to follow went to the moon pool and found the stone from the trident. She leaned to touch it, but the crystal necklace she's wearing made a connection with it and the light from the stone pierced her and she fell down unconscious. I think we need the moon rings to help her the way Rita, Nixie and Serena used them to help you."

"Where is she now?" Lyla asked her eyes wide open in shock.

"Still there."

"At the moon pool?" She asked him stunned.

"Yeah and we need to find the others quick, because…"

"Damn." Lyla said.

"What?" He asked her.

"The girl I am supposed to follow had talked on the phone with her friends earlier and they're meeting at the moon pool after she finishes here."

"Crap." Zac said, then grabbed Lyla's hand. "Come on, we've got to find the others!"

And they started running until they collapsed with someone, causing them falling on the ground along with the other person.

"You should watch where you're going!" A girl's voice said bitterly.

They both looked at the girl and realized it was the tan-skinned brunette that was in the moon pool with the blonds.

"Sorry." Zac muttered and quickly stood up helping Lyla to stand up.

The other girl stood up, brushed her clothes and walked away. Lyla looked after her and then turned around just in time before she ran straight at Serena.

"Serena, thank god we found you, we've got a problem." Zac told her. "We need to find Nixie!"

"Why, what's going on?" She asked, but Lyla shook her head.

"We'll tell you everything, but now we need Nixie!"

"The girl I'm following - Cleo, she went to her friend's house this morning. Her friend is the girl Nixie is supposed to be following, so I assume she's there."

"Do you remember the way?" Zac asked her.

"I think so."

"What are we waiting for then?!" Lyla said and they hurried with Serena in front of them.

They quickly reached their destination.

"Ok, now what?" Lyla asked.

"What do you mean?" Zac looked at her puzzled.

"Well, we can't just walk in, can we?"

"Maybe we can wait for the girl to come out. Nixie will follow her and when she sees us she'll show up."

"We can't just wait!" Zac said and he quickly told Serena what's the rush was about.

Serena's eyes went wide open.

"And you left her there?"

"Now it's not the time, Serena." Lyla told her. "We've got to figure a way how to…"

But she was interrupted when the door of the house opened. The blond girl walked away, holding her phone with one hand and looking a bit annoyed.

"Come on, Rikki, turn it on!", they heard her murmur while walking past them.

Suddenly a figure appeared right next to Lyla.

"Nixie, thank god, we were looking for you!"

"You were? Why?"

"We need your help." Serena said.

"We'll explain everything in the moon pool!" Zac told her and motioned to the ocean.

They ran to the nearest beach and dived in, heading straight to the moon pool. When they surfaced, they hurried out of the water and Zac and Lyla quickly dried all of them.

Zac quickly ran to Rikki and put two fingers on her throat.

"There's a pulse. It's weak, but it's still there. We've got to help her quick!"

He moved away and the three girls pointed their moon rings towards Rikki and focused on the healing process. Rikki's face started glowing until suddenly the crystal necklace started absorbing the energy from the moon rings.

"Stop!" Zac shouted to the girls and they moved their hands away.

They all looked shocked at each other.

"That necklace of hers." Nixie said. "He's too powerful."

Zac nodded.

"Earlier while I was following her, she hid behind a tree and her necklace leaned forward, straight towards me. I wanted to get close to take a look at it when I suddenly felt weak, like all my strength was being sucked up."

"Ok, so we need to get the necklace off her in order to save her." Sirena said. "The question is _how_?"

"Maybe we can…" Zac started when suddenly they heard a noise of someone falling down and a male's voice echoed in the cave.

"Girls? Girls are you there yet?"

Zac, Lyla, Nixie and Serena quickly made themselves invisible, just when a blond boy, one of the boyfriends of the other mermaids, entered the cave from behind them. He looked around and he spotted Rikki lying unconscious on the ground.

"Rikki?" He shouted and ran to her, kneeling down. "Rikki, can you hear me?"

He lifted her, but her head lolled on one side, swaying slightly. He took her in his arms and looked around wondering what to do when a head popped up in the pool.

"Lewis?"

He spun around.

"Cleo?! Thank goodness, I need your help!"

She saw her best friend's unconscious body in the arms of her boyfriend and her eyes widened in terror.

"Rikki?! Lewis what happened to her?"

"I have no idea, I found here like this when I came here a few minutes ago."

Cleo started pulling herself out of the water. Lewis put Rikki gently on the ground and went to Cleo.

"Here, let me help you." And with some effort he helped her out.

She tried to move to get closer to Rikki. Lewis understood and took Rikki's body in his hands again to get her closer to Cleo, careful for Rikki not to get wet.

"Rikki! Rikki, please, open your eyes!" Cleo begged, tears running down her cheeks.

"We have to get Emma, Bella and the boys." Lewis said.

As if on cue Emma and Bella's heads popped on the surface. Their eyes widened because of the scene before them.

"What's going on?" Bella asked her voice choked.

"I found Rikki here unconscious and after that Cleo came. We need to get Will and Ash so we can get together and decide how to help her." Lewis quickly explained.

"Ok, I'll go get them." Bella nodded.

"And what about Zane?" Emma asked before the other blond could dive in.

Bella looked at them expectantly. Lewis hesitated for a second.

"Fine, get him too."

Bella dove in and Emma swam to the edge.

"Help me." She stretched her hand to Lewis.

He pulled her out of the water. Finally, after some time Cleo dried off completely and her tail disappeared. Now she could move freely, she took Rikki's head in her lap. Her tears were falling down Rikki's cheeks.

"Rikki, please wake up." She said, gently fondling her curly hair..

Emma could just sit down and watch helpless, because she was still wet. They stood there, Cleo's sobbing the only thing breaking the silence. Finally Bella came back.

"They're coming." She stated, before Lewis rushed to help her out, just when Emma's tail disappeared.

Emma sat down next to Cleo and hugged her.

"Shh, everything will be alright, she'll be alright." She whispered to her friend, but her eyes were also wet.

Just when the last drop on Bella's tail disappeared and she transformed back to normal, Zane, Will and Ash rushed into the cave.

"What happened?" Was the only thing Zane asked before rushing to Rikki's side, gently fondling her face.

Lewis told them what he knew.

"I was in my boat, fishing, when I saw some strange light coming out of Mako. It wasted only a couple of seconds, but it was very bright. Anyway, I entered the cave and…"

"And?" Cleo insisted in-between the tears.

Lewis hesitated. Should he tell them about the voices he heard? Still, what was the point? They'd never believe him. He shook his head off that thought.

"And I found Rikki unconscious." He finished.

"And that was it?" Will asked him.

Lewis nodded.

"Pretty much." He shrugged. "Then Cleo came, followed by Emma and Bella. I asked Bella to go look for you three and here you are."

"Ok, so how are we going to help her?" Zane asked them, worry clearly audible in his voice.

"_That_ I don't know." Lewis answered him.

"Lewis, tell me you have a theory, you always have theory." Cleo begged him.

He didn't respond. Will looked around the cave and something caught his attention.

"What is _that_?" He was pointing at the stone from the trident.

Bella moved towards it, but Lewis grabbed her hand.

"Don't! It might be dangerous!"

She only gave him a look, but didn't say anything. However Zane rushed past them. He bent over it, and his fingers curled around the cold stone. Almost immediately he felt some strange power rushing through his veins all over his body. For a moment, just a single moment, he felt invincible.

"Wow." He said only.

The others gave him concerned looks.

"What is it?" Lewis asked.

"This thing's really powerful." Zane answered. "I can feel it."

"You shouldn't have touched it. We don't know what it is and what it can do." Ash shook his head.

"Do you think Rikki may've touched it?" Emma asked.

"She could have." Lewis answered.

Zane walked closer to them and as if on cue, the crystal necklaces started glowing. Cleo's eyes widened as well as Emma's and Bella's.

"Get back." Will shouted to Zane. "Quick! Get back!"

He obeyed and made a few steps back. The necklaces stopped glowing, returning to their previous state.

"That thing really _is_ powerful." Lewis said.

The scientist in him started waking up again.

"You know what? Let's go to the café. I'll take the stone to make some tests, and we'll try to figure out a way to help Rikki." He suggested and everybody nodded.

Lewis stretched his hand to Zane and he reluctantly gave him the stone.

"Do you feel it?" Zane asked him curiously.

"Feel what?" Lewis looked at him confused.

"It's power." Zane said. "Do you feel it rushing through your veins and all over your body?"

The blond shook his head.

"I don't feel anything beside the sense of a cold stone in my hand."

The other boy didn't respond.

"I think we should go now." Ash said.

Everybody nodded. Zane took Rikki in his arms and he and the boys walked out followed by the sound of the girls diving in.

Making sure they're all alone, Zac and the three girls reappeared.

"Now what?" Lyla asked.

"What do you mean "now what"?!" Nixie said. "We can't do anything. Those friends of hers will help her."

"Nixie, you know _we_ are the only ones who can help her!" Serena reminded her.

"We don't know that for sure." The other girl said stubbornly.

"We can't leave that girl _die_!" Zac interrupted them. "It's _our_ fault what happened to her and we have to help her."

"Excuse me, but how is it _our _fault?" Lyla shot at him.

"We left that stone here. We never thought someone might come here and find it."

"Yeah, but we didn't make her touch it, right?!" Lyla said bitterly.

"She didn't touch it." Zac protested. "She leaned down, and her crystal necklace made a connection with it and the light that burst out hit her."

He turned his back to the three girls and buried his face into his hands sighing.

"I think there's only one thing we can do." He said with his back still turned to them.

"And what's that?"

"We have to reveal ourselves to them." He turned his head to look at them.

"No way." Nixie cut him off. "That's never going to happen."

"This is the only way to save her and you know it." Zac protested, turning his head around, again.

"Do you have feelings for her?"

Zac spun around in a heartbeat.

"_What_?"

"Do you have feelings for that girl?" Lyla asked again, her eyes looking straight into his.

"Of course not. What kind of a question is that?!" He said, but he noticed her body relaxed a bit.

"Sorry, I just had to ask." Lyla said a-matter-of-factly.

"Let's go back to the café and see what's going on." Serena suggested. "They may have succeeded to help her." She didn't sound so sure at all, but tried to hope for the best.

"Ok." Lyla sighed and they all looked at each other. "We can get something to eat too. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

"Yeah, me too." Nixie nodded.

The four of them dived in heading to "Rikki's" café. They all had their doubts about what was the right thing to do and they all hoped they wouldn't have to reveal themselves.


	4. Chapter 4 TDSOTM

**Chapter 4:**

Once inside Zac rested his hand becoming visible again.

He walked over to the couch and his eyes travelled all over her. Her beautiful curly hair was lying around her pale face. She looked so calm and relaxed almost like she was just asleep. Like the sleeping beauty he thought. He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment still trying to forget the argument he had with the girls. He thought after a few hours of swimming the memory would've faded, but it didn't. He sighed and opened his eyes again, staring right at her face.

"I don't know what exactly I can do to wake you up, but I swear I'll do anything I can." He whispered quietly. "It's our fault you're in this state and even if the girls don't care and don't want to help you, I will."

He sat gently next to her on the couch. His mind suddenly drifted back to his home, his parents, even Evie. He realized how much he missed all of that. He knew the girls probably missed their pod the same way and immediately felt guilty for yelling at them, but he hoped they'd forgive him.

"It's my fault. Everything's all my fault. I wish I had never fallen into the moon pool. I wish none of this had happened."

A tear started falling down his cheek and he lifted his hand to brush it off, but it was too late.

It rolled down and landed on her face. Before he could do anything, her skin started glowing the same way Lyla's skin did when Rita and the girls used the moon rings to help her. Zac's eyes widened as he touched his cheek to brush off the rest of the tears and he looked at the palm of his hand in amusement before looking back at her. Rikki gasped for breath and her eyes shot open. He tried to make himself invisible as quickly as possible, but for a split second he was sure her ocean blue eyes had landed straight at his.

He tried not to panic, and to convince himself she hadn't looked at him but deep in his heart he knew; he had been _caught_.

**A few hours earlier…**

Zane ran into the café followed by Lewis, Ash and Will. Cleo, Emma and Bella were already there waiting for them. They all walked into the office where Zane gently put Rikki down on the couch.

He ran to his computer and started researching for a way to help her while Lewis sat next to him examining closely the stone. Ash and Will headed to Will's boatshed to get Will's laptop and some of his papers and books that they thought might help. Emma offered her services to Zane and took his shift at the café, making juices and serving the clients, in order to give him more time for research. Bella went out of the office for a quick sound check and Cleo sat down next to Rikki holding her hand.

The only one they felt they were now competing against was the time itself and they knew for fact it wasn't going to be an easy fight.

"Rikki, please open your eyes." Cleo whispered with tears in her eyes and then she looked at the boys. "Why isn't she waking up?! Whatever happened to her I thought she would…she would be awake by now." She dropped her hand, stood up from her place and started pacing around trying to compose herself and to stop shaking up.

Lewis put the stone on Zane's desk, walked over to her and hugged her tight. "We're doing everything to help her." He reassured the brunette. "Everything will be ok. I'm sure we'll find a way to wake her up." And he gave her an encouraging smile.

"I think I found something." Zane suddenly said and Lewis ran to him to look at the computer screen.

He then turned his head and shared a confused look with the brunette boy. "A _trident_?" Was all he said before leaning to read more of the article Zane had found. He scrolled through it and stopped to look at the photos attached to it.

"Look." Zane pointed at the one photo Lewis was now staring at. "The circle stone in the middle of the trident is exactly the same like the stone we found at the moon pool."

Lewis nodded deep in thoughts. "But if what we found is a stone from a trident, then…how did it get there?" He looked over to Cleo. "Have you guys seen this stone before at the moon pool? Or something that looks like a trident?"

She shook her head no. "But if it's part of a trident and if that trident was broken, it could've been hidden in the walls. Just like they are full of crystals." She suggested shrugging.

"I don't think that's very likely." Lewis shook his head. He then suddenly remembered the voices he heard before he found Rikki unconscious and a thought ran through his mind. "What if…what if someone had left it there?"

"You mean someone could've found the moon pool?" Cleo lifted her eyebrows.

"It's more than possible."

Zane continued searching the internet. He tried typing down "_reversing the trident's stone's effect_", but nothing came up except some old story tale about a war between mermaids and mermen. He sighed annoyed.

"I can't find anything helpful for reversing the effect of that stone." He groaned.

"Let me see." The other boy looked at the screen. "What's that?" He pointed at the link Zane had just clicked open.

"Some old myth about an ancient war between mermaids and mermen." Zane answered with a sigh.

"Hang on, look at this." Lewis pointed at one of the sentences on the screen.

"_The only weapon that stood a chance against the mermen's tridents was the mermaid's _moon rings_. They stored the power of the moon in them and were quite powerful. They even had the power to heal._"

"That's it!" Lewis exclaimed. "All we need is a _moon ring_."

"And how exactly are we going to get one, Mr. Genius?" Zane asked sarcastically.

Lewis and Cleo shared looks. "What if we try to search at the moon pool?" The blond suggested.

Zane looked both of them. "There are only _crystals _there, Lewis."

"We found that stone there. Maybe there is a moon ring too." The other boy insisted.

Zane sighed. "Fine, you go search at the moon pool then."

"What about you?" Cleo asked.

"I'll stay here."

"Why?"

"I..I'd like to stay here with her."

"She won't wake up anytime soon if we don't find that moon ring, Zane. You better come help us. It would be more helpful of you than staying here. Besides the band's sound check will be over soon and I'll tell Bella to stay here with Rikki and wait for Will and Ash who should be back soon too."

Zane nodded defeated. "Ok, ok, I'll come with you, then. But I still think we won't find anything there."

The other two rolled their eyes and they all hurried out of the office.

{ . }

Zac and the three girls ran inside Rikki's and sat one of the tables. One of the waitresses walked to where they were sitting to take their order.

"Welcome at "Rikki's". What would you like?"

They turned to look at the girl and froze on their places. It was the blond mermaid Nixie was following before the accident.

Zac was the first one to compose himself. He looked through the list of the drinks. "A mango smoothie, please."

The girl turned to Lyla. "Anything he says." The other girl hurried to stay.

"The same." Nixie added quickly.

"A creamery booster for me." Serena was the last one to order.

The other girl smiled and walked away to prepare their drinks.

Zac was just about to say something when they heard a door open and looked at the direction of the sound. They saw a brunette girl followed by two boys walking out. The girl walked over to the blond one who took their order and whispered something in her ear. She then walked to the stage to the other blond girl who was singing to whisper a few words to her too and after that she nodded to the two boys waiting for her, walking out of the café along with them.

Lyla turned to the place Zac was sitting at only a few moments ago to tell him something, only to find he wasn't there. However she wasn't surprised when seconds after he reappeared.

"They're going back to the moon pool." He stated nodding towards the door the girl and the two boys had disappeared behind only seconds before.

"What?" Lyla whispered. "Why?"

"If I heard the brunette girl correct, they're looking for a moon ring."

"A moon ring?" Serena whispered frightened. "That's really bad."

"Relax, Serena." Nixie told her, her voice stern. "

"Wait a minute." Zac suddenly spoke. "If that girl and the two boys are out to Mako, one of the blonds is singing and the other is serving us, this means that girl is alone in there."

"Aren't you forgetting someone? Those two girls here have boyfriends too. They may be in there just as we're speaking." Lyla interrupted him.

Zac gave her a look. "So what? We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

"I don't see why not." Nixie commented.

"You can't be serious." Zac said harshly and glared at her. "What are you trying to say? That we should just forget about the mess we made and go home?! Come on, you know perfectly well we can't just walk away. We have to help her."

"That's your opinion."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That we should do exactly what you just said. We should think of a way to reverse what we did and get back home instead of running after some stupid girl who accidently got herself into trouble."

Zac couldn't believe his ears.

"I am with Lyla." Nixie added shooting her a smile.

"I thought you were better than this. I thought after everything that happened you've changed too like I did. But you know what? You haven't."

Zac was looking accusingly at Lyla and the other two girls.

"The only thing you ever cared for was yourselves. You wanted _me_ to give up _my_ powers so _you_ could go back to your pod." He focused his eyes on Lyla.

"I thought you were different, but you're just like your friends."

With that he stood off the table and stormed out of the café diving into the water.

* * *

><p><strong>an:** _I'm so so so sorry for not updating for so long! And I can't tell you how thankful I am for all your reviews, favs and followes for this story! I promise to update with the next chapter ASAP! Love you all, best wishes! xXX_


	5. Chapter 5 TDSOTM

**05.**

Rikki opened her eyes and blinked confused. For a second, just one second she thought she'd seen a face bending over her, but in the next moment it was gone.

She moved and carefully lifted herself up to sitting position, looking around. She realized she was in her office at the café, lying on the sofa.

Wait, she was in the office? How on earth díd she go there?!

"What am I doing here?!" She murmured and began to stand up.

The last thing she remembered was swimming to the moon pool. She rubbed her head with her hand, because it was pounding badly.

She was now millimeters away from Zac, their faces inches apart. Her necklace leaned forward towards him and suddenly he felt he was falling on the ground like all his strength and energy had been taken away from him. It took him literally everything to keep himself invisible.

Rikki stood up from the couch and walked out of the office to find someone who'd explain her what the hell had happened at Mako.

{ * }

"I can't believe the stuff Zac told us." Lyla fumed.

Nixie, Serena and her were sitting on the warm sand at the beach, talking about Zac's outburst. They were dying for a swim, but they knew the others were out at Mako and it was not safe.

"He likes her!" Nixie stated confidently. "Otherwise he wouldn't care."

Lyla felt like there was some strange fire bursting inside her.

"I asked him and he said he didn't have feelings for that girl!" She quickly objected.

"Oh, yeah, right. He doesn't have feelings and that's why he had volunteered to follow her out of all!" Nixie spatted.

Lyla didn't respond.

"Nixie's right Lyla." Serena said softly. "I'm sorry, but I agree with what she said."

"Whatever." Lyla spat.

She turned her back to both of them, crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"We have to concentrate on what happened to us and how to reverse it. Not on Zac and the feelings he does or doesn't have." Was all she said.

Serena and Nixie nodded in agreement.

"Where should we start from?" Serena asked.

"Where do you think?!" Nixie raised her eyebrows. "Mako Island." She nodded at its direction.

"It's dangerous to go out there right now. The friends of that girl are there." Serena reminded them.

"We'll wait until they come back and we'll go to the moon pool." Lyla said quickly.

"And until then?"

"Until then I want to be alone."

And Lyla walked away, Nixie and Serena staring after her.

She had had enough of Zac whinging about saving that girl.

Suddenly an idea popped into her head and she ran straight to the water, diving in.

If the only thing Zac was concerned about was to help this girl, then Lyla was going to help her first.

That way Zac would have no more excuses and would be concentrated on helping her, Serena and Nixie to figure out what had happened to them. He would be concentrated...on Lyla.

{ * }

Emma was finishing some orders when she saw the office door burst open and Rikki walking out.

"Rikki!" She screamed and walked over to her. "You're awake! Are you ok?!"

"Been better." The curly blond stated. "What happened out there?"

"Not here." Emma said quietly and pulled her back into the office.

The blond closed the door behind herself and turned to her friend.

"Lewis found you unconscious in the moon pool." She explained.

"Unconscious?!" Rikki raised her eyebrows. "But why-"

Suddenly realization hit her. She remembered about having a feeling that she's been followed, and then diving in and swimming off to the moon pool.

"Someone was following me." She stated.

"What?" Emma gasped.

"Someone was following me, that's why to sneak out I went to the moon pool."

"But who would follow you? And why?"

"I can come out with a few names."

"You don't think it's-"

"Denman? No. And as weird as it sounds I don't think it's Sophie too."

"Then who?"

"It may sound weird, but...I have a feeling it wasn't female at all."

"You mean it was a boy?" Emma lifted her eyebrows, then a smirk ran through her face. "Then it's obvious isn't?"

"What do you mean?"

"Someone doesn't trust his girlfriend."

"Zane trusts me completely and he's not a stalker."

"Yeah, whatever you say. You always stand up for him."

"Not true."

"It is."

Rikki gave Emma a death glare.

"Where are the others?"

"Bella's rehearsing with the band, Will and Ash should be here any minute now and Cleo, Lewis and Zane went to the moon pool."

"What? Why?"

"Cleo said they're searching for a moon ring or something."

"A _what_?"

"A moon ring. They thought it would help you come to consciousness again."

"What the hell is that and why did they think it would help me wake up?"

"She mentioned something about reversing effects, but you have to ask her when she comes back. She didn't have time to explain it all to me."

"No, I'll go there and talk to her..to them, now."

"What? Rikki you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't and you must not! Something out there made you pass out and you were unconscious for hours! You just woke up and you can't go back out!"

"You can't stop me, Emma." Rikki opened the door and marched out of the office.

Emma ran after her, but it was too late; the curly blond was already out of the café. Emma sighed annoyed at her best friend and walked back behind the bar.

{ * }

"That's where I live." Will said pushing the door opened and letting Ash walk in.

"Nice place." The brunette nodded approvingly.

"Thanks."

Ash went through some of Will's books while Will was doing a research on his laptop. There was a too long silence for about half and hour when Will finally groaned.

"I can't find anything in the internet."

He lifted his eyes from the screen to see Ash lost in a book called "Life in the Ocean". It was about every single creature in the ocean and it's history, making the book a bit too big.

"Hey, get this!" Ash said pausing on one page to read. "The book says that in the past a bunch of mermaids had to protect their moon pool from being destroyed by-" Ash lifted his head to look at Will, "-mermen."

They shared confused looks before the brunette continued reading.

"The only weapon they had were their moon rings. They used them to take away the mermen's trident and to hide it so it could never be found and used against them, again."

"Is this all?" Will asked, walking over to where Ash was reading.

"No, there are some notes about the trident's power."

And he pointed at the book.

"The trident stores powers beyond any living creature's wildest imagination. It stores the power of the moon in it and in the hand of a merman it can destroy any moon ring pointed against it, if that's what the merman wants. It can also restore the powers of the moon ring, that way making the second available to heal. The trident's stone is made centuries ago by the crystals hidden in a rock claimed to has come from the moon. That's why the same way mermaids feel weak near the trident, mermen feel weak near the origin the trident's been made of. If the trident is pointed against the same material it was once made of, the consequences may be dreadful."

Ash finished and looked up, both him and Will staring at each other lost for words.

"So if that stone we found is a stone from a trident -" Ash began.

"And if it's been made from the same crystals the girls wear as their necklaces -" Will continued.

"And if Rikki found that stone and it made a connection with her necklace-" Ash added.

"The consequences may be dreadful." Will repeated the last paragraph they'd just read.

"But what does that mean?" Ash asked confused.

"I don't know." Will said just as confused as the other boy. "But we have to tell the others. Come on."

He grabbed his laptop and him and Ash ran out of the boatshed, the book still in Ash' firm grip.


	6. Chapter 6 TDSOTM

**06.**

Lyla sped through the water when she suddenly stopped and twisted her hand making herself invisible then continued swimming, but this time much slower. She reached the moon pool and swam up to the surface, still invisible.

As she expected, she found the brunette girl from the cafe and the two boys there. Keeping herself invisible she pulled off her moon ring and when the three people weren't looking she carefully threw it at a place they hadn't searched yet. She was just about to swim off when she felt the water moving and someone crabbing the surface, so the only thing she could do was carefully move to the other corner of the moon pool, where she could hide.

Nothing could describe her shock when she saw who the newcomer in the pool was.

"There you are." A voice echoed and Cleo, Zane and Lewis spun around in a heartbeat.

"Rikki!" Zane quickly ran to the side of the pool where Rikki rested her elbows. Cleo and Lewis immediately followed him. "Are you ok? How-" But he couldn't finish the question.

"How did I wake up?" Rikki raised her eyebrows. "Well..everything's still a bit blurry, but as you can see I'm here."

"It's ok." Cleo said. "The most important thing now is that you're awake and ok."

"But what happened?" Lewis asked Rikki. "I came here and found you on the ground unconscious.."

"Someone was following me so I sneaked out to the beach and swam here." Rikki began. "When I came here I found some weird stone. I bent over to take a better look at it and take it in my hand and it made some strange connection with my necklace. That's the last thing I remember before I woke up on the couch at the office." With that she finished her story.

"That's really weird." Lewis broke the silence that had followed Rikki's words. "According to the research Zane and I made in the Internet the only thing that could've woken you up is a _moon ring_. It's the only thing that can reverse the effects of the stone you found that is a stone of a _trident_."

"Say that again?!" Rikki said her eyes wide open.

Lewis only rolled his eyes in response.

"But Rikki's awake." Cleo slowly said. "That means something somehow must've helped her."

"The question is what?" Lewis said again.

"Interesting." Rikki said deep in thoughts.

"Wait, someone was following you?" Zane interrupted them. "Who?"

Rikki only shrugged her shoulders.

"I have no idea."

Suddenly something clicked in Lewis' mind; someone's following Rikki, than he hears voices in the moon pool cave..

"Guys, we need to talk." He stated. "But not here. Let's get back to "_Rikki's_". We'll talk in your office."

Zane and Rikki along with Cleo shared confused looks, but nodded and Cleo jumped in the water to join Rikki. When she resurfaced however, something caught her attention.

"What is that? Over there, under that rock that's about to fall..?"

Lewis turned around and hurried at that direction, to bent over and look under the rock. He then took the thing in his hand.

"That's..that's a ring!" He exclaimed, turning around and lifting it up for everyone to see.

"Maybe that's the moon ring we've been looking for!" Cleo gasped. "Let me see!"

Lewis walked back to where the girls were floating gracefully in the water and kneeled down stretching his hand to Cleo. Then the weirdest thing happened; at the exact moment when Cleo reached to take the ring, it literally moved to slip away out of her reach.

"What the..?!"

Everyone were starting at the ring with their eyes wide open. Even the still invisible Lyla on the other end of the pool.

"Did you do that?" Lewis asked Cleo shocked.

She shook her head.

"I can move only water, Lewis."

"Rikki, you try to take the ring." Lewis said and stretched her hand to her.

He had a theory and if it was right..

"Me?" Rikki raised her eyebrows.

"Come on, just do it."

She only rolled her eyes, but got her hand out of the water and reached for the ring. Her fingers curled around it and when she took it, she opened her hand to take a better look at the jewel; it felt small and strangely powerful in the palm of her hand.

"Wow." She breathed.

The ring was also really beautiful.

"It feels so..powerful." The curly blond's lips were pulled into a mischievous smile.

"Interesting." Lewis murmured to himself.

Cleo felt a bit jealous; the ring had slipped away from her fingers, but not from Rikki's.

Did Rikki had something she didn't? Had the ring in some strange way preferred Rikki instead of Cleo?

"I don't understand. How is it Rikki can touch the ring, but I can't?" The brunette asked Lewis confused.

She was longing for some explanation and hoped Lewis could give her some answer, whatever it was.

"I don't know." He said honestly. "But we should test it with Bella and Emma too before we start making conclusions."

Cleo nodded silently. Inside she felt a bit disappointed by her boyfriend's answer.

"Why don't you try and put it on?" Cleo asked Rikki.

She only raised her eyebrows at her but still did what she had suggested and put the ring on her finger. Suddenly the curly blond felt so much power and energy rushing through her veins.

"I can feel so much..power and energy, rushing through me." She said, her voice filled with excitement. "It feels good, really good."

She stretched her hand against the still ruined wall of the cave and curled her fingers. Suddenly the whole wall turned into flames.

"Stop!" Lewis shouted and quickly grabbed her wrist moving it away.

"Wow, that's so cool." Rikki commented, and relaxed her hand, letting the flames disappear.

"No it's not, you almost set that place on fire." Cleo shook her head, a trace of fear audible in her voice.

"Take off the ring." Lewis said seriously.

Reluctantly Rikki obeyed. But the minute it slid off her finger she felt all the strength leaving her and almost sank under the water, but Cleo helped her stay up the surface. Rikki quickly stabilized herself and gave the ring back to Lewis, while Cleo reluctantly pulled her hands away from Rikki.

"Are you ok?" The brunette asked her friend concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Rikki nodded. "It's just..when I took that ring off..I felt like all my strength was taken out and I lost balance for a moment. That ring's really powerful."

"Maybe you shouldn't put it on anymore. It's not safe." Zane said. "You shouldn't have ever put that thing on."

"I'm not a baby, Zane." Rikki quickly got back her annoyance from him. "I can take care for me by myself very well, thank you. The ring is absolutely awesome and I WILL put it on again if I want to."

"Fine!" Zane waved his hands annoyed. "You can do whatever you want. But don't expect me to just sit down and watch."

"Guys, stop it. Now's not the time for arguing. Let's go back to the cafe and talk to the others, ok?!" Lewis interrupted them.

"Let's go." Rikki nodded and she and Cleo dove in.

Lewis and Zane wordlessly hurried to the land entrance of the cave.

Making sure everyone are gone, Lyla relaxed her hand and reappeared as if out of nowhere.

She couldn't believe she had thrown out her moon ring all in vain. Still, there was something good in the whole situation amd it was that now the curly blond girl was fine Zac wouldn't have an excuse not to help Lyla and the girls to figure out what had happened to them at the night of the lunar eclipse..

Lewis, Cleo, Rikki and Zane rushed inside _Rikki's_ cafe and into the office where they found Emma, Will, Bella and Ash waiting for them.

"Oh, good, you're all here." Lewis commented approvingly. "We need to tell you something."

And he told the other four everything that had happened at the moon pool. When he finished talking he looked at Emma and Bella.

"We have to test what will happen if you two try to take it." He added. "Who'll be the first to try?"

"Me." Bella was the first to answer.

"Ok, get ready." Lewis said and took it out of his pocket.

Bella reached to take it and almost succeeded when it slipped away out of her fingers.

Cleo would never admit it, but that actually made her feel a bit better, because she was not the only one who couldn't touch the ring.

"Ok, Emma, your turn now." Lewis stretched her hand to her.

She took a deep breath and reached with her hand. The ring slipped away again.

"What does that mean?" Ash raised his eyebrows.

"It means out of the girls Rikki's the only one who can touch this ring. Like it had chosen her."

"_Chosen_ me?" Rikki raised her eyebrows.

"For it's owner."

"Oh."

"But why her?" Zane asked concerned.

He was worried of what would happen if Rikki started to wear that ring.

"I have no idea." Lewis shrugged.

"We wanted to tell you something as well." Ash said and showed them what that had found in Will's book.

The others quickly read through the page and Cleo who finished first lifted her eyes to look at the other.

"_The consequences might be dreadful, _what the hell does that mean?"

"We don't know." Will said. "We just thought it might be important."

Rikki was playing with her necklace deep in her thoughts, when something came up to her mind.

"My necklace!" She exclaimed. "When I felt I was being followed my necklace started glowing! It was glowing the same way as it did when it made a connection with that stone that you say is from a trident."

"Hmm." Was the only thing Lewis could say.

Will and Ash shared worried looks with Emma and Bella, Cleo was looking concerned at Rikki and Zane wrapped his hand protectively around his girlfriend's shoulders.

"Look, we don't know what's happening, but from the little we know it sounds like we're not safe. Until we find out what's going on whatever we do we must stick together and never leave the others alone. When the girls go swimming, they should go together, and we the boys should do everything not to leave any of them alone. We don't know what we're dealing with, so we must be really careful."

The others had to admit Zane was right.

"You and I are working here along with Emma, Rikki and Bella." Ash said. "And Cleo's working at the Marine park with Lewis. It'll be easy for us to stick together and watch our backs."

The others nodded.

"I'm going to take the trident's stone and the moon ring with me so I could run some tests." Lewis said.

"And I'm going to help you." Cleo added quickly.

"Ok, after we settled that, we should go home." Emma said. "It's getting late."

"I can't believe I'm going say this, but I agree with you." Rikki stated, letting out a chuckle. "It is late and I feel tired. I can really use a good nice sleep when I get home."

"I'll drive you with my motorbike." Zane suggested quickly shooting her a smile.

"And I'm going to walk Emma home." Ash said.

Will also said he'll walk Bella to her house and Cleo and Lewis said that they were going to go to Lewis' place to do some experimenting.

After that they said their "bye"s and got on their different ways.

{ * }

Meanwhile Lyla got back on the beach to look for Nixie and Serena but she found Zac there instead.

"Zac, you won't believe what happened-" Lyla began, but he interrupted her.

"I'm sorry for my outburst at the cafe." He said. "I shouldn't have said those things."

Lyla couldn't help the smile that rose up on her face.

"It's ok. Really. I understand."

"Thanks." Zac said. "You have no idea how bad I've been feeling.."

Lyla only grinned at him and did something even she was surprised she did; she gave him a peck on the cheek. Zac's eyes found hers.

"What was that for?"

"No reason." She shrugged. "I'm just happy you're not angry anymore."

Zac nodded guiltily the suddenly remembered she was going to tell him something when they met on the beach.

"You were going to tell me something, but I interrupted you. What was it?"

Lyla's smile disappeared.

"Yes. You won't believe what happened." And she told him the whole story.

Zac couldn't believe Lyla's story.

"But why did you let this happen? Why did you throw your moon ring like that for them to find it? They don't have even the slightest idea how dangerous the moon ring can be."

"I just thought I'd help them wake up their friend so you could calm down and help us figure out what happened to us." Lyla shrugged.

Zac put his hand on her shoulder.

"Ok, now we've got to figure out a way to get your moon ring back." He said to her. "But first we must find Nixie and Serena. Do you have any idea where they can be?"

"No." Lyla shook her head. "Actually I thought they were going to be here, because that's where I left them when I headed to the moon pool."

"Well, we're going to have to look around for them." Zac said. "Come on, I don't think they had gone far."

And the two of them left the beach.

{ * }

"I told you we shouldn't get so far from that beach we were at. We're lost now."

"Relax, Serena." Nixie said impatiently. "We'll be ok."

They were wandering around for a good half an hour now and had reached a trailer park. They looked around but could see nothing but trailers everywhere around them.

"Great, now what?!" Serena murmured.

Just then they heard a strange noise.

"What is that?" Nixie asked.

The noise was getting closer.

"You're asking me?!" Serena gave her a look. "How should I know?"

Not responding, Nixie dragged herself and Serena behind the nearest tree, seconds before a motorcycle appeared in front of them. The bikers were two - a boy and girl and were wearing helmets on their heads. When the boy finally stopped the girl jumped off the bike taking off her helmet and grinned.

"Thanks for the ride."

Nixie and Serena suddenly were staring wide-eyed at her; it was the unconscious girl Zac wanted to help to.

The boy pulled off his helmet too.

"Anytime." He grinned back at her and leaned to kiss her.

The two girls exchanged looks.

"Bye, Zane!" The curly blond waved and walked inside her trailer.

Zane was grinning like crazy.

"I don't know if you realized how happy I am that we're back together. I was an idiot to hurt you like I did." He whispered to himself. "But I won't make the same mistake ever again." He looked at the direction of her window and mischievous smile showed up on his lips. "I love you, Rikki Chadwick."

With that he jumped back on his bike and drove off.

Nixie and Serena quietly snuck out from behind the tree.

"I don't understand." Serena said. "That girl was supposed to be unconscious."

"Well apparently she isn't." Nixie said impatiently.

"We have to find Lyla and Zac and tell them!" Serena said.

"That is if they don't already know." Nixie commented. "But come on then, let's go."

And the two started looking for they way back. They almost got lost again a couple of times, but eventually managed to get back. It was already night, so they decided to go to the moon pool and get some rest there, before trying to find Lyla and Zac.

Serena let her head rest on her arms while her tail was gently floating next to Nixie's.

"I miss Aquata and the pod." The blond sighed. "And I miss Rita."

"I know." Nixie said. "But everything's going to be fine, you'll see."

Serena took her hand.

"I don't know what I'd do without you and Lyla. You're like my sisters, my soul-sisters!"

Nixie pulled her in for a hug.

"I'm sorry for getting you and the others into this mess. But I promise I'll find a way to get you out of it. We just need to find Zac and Lyla and we'll figure a way to get back home."

Sirena tried to smile, but it was just a faint twitch of the lips. She then began to sing a beautiful song. She sang about the sea, about her friends, her family and above all - about the adventures that they were going through.

Because no matter what happens, that's the only thing that mattered after all.


	7. Note TDSOTM

**Author's Note**

**Hi, all! Thank you for all the ****_27_**** reviews and all the ****_28_**** favorites and ****_39_**** follows! You have no idea how much this means to me!**

**Anyway, now that the first thirteen episodes of Season 2 of Mako Mermaids are already out I've watched them all and I fell in love with Season 2, thus totally lost inspiration to continue with this story. I may rewrite the chapters adapting them with the new season OR I can simply continue with the storyline although that's less likely to happen.**

**What do you guys think? Have you seen the first thirteen episodes of Season 2 and do you like them? Would you like me to reajust my story to fit with the new season and include some of the new characters or not?**

**Your opinion is everything to me, so I'll be looking forward for it!**

**Have a very nice day/good night! Love you all!**


	8. Chapter 7 TDSOTM

**a/n: I'm sorry for not updating for so long. First thing first - do you all know the great news?! Cariba will be back as Rikki for the last two episodes of Season 3 of Mako Mermaids! I'm so happy because Rikki Chadwick is my most favorite mermaid and Cariba's my role model and personal biggest inspiration! And to the second thing - after watching Season 2 of Mako Mermaids I decided to finish this current fic with the beginning of episode one of season two. And I have new ideas and inspiration so I'll try to update regularly! R&R & Enjoy the new chapter! :-)  
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"My legs are killing me." Lyla looked really tired. "I don't know how you walk around on those, every day."

Zac couldn't help but chuckle and the blond glared at him annoyed. The two had been searching for hours and had ended up on the beach so they were now resting on the sand.

"Why don't we just go back to the moon pool. We've been searching half the night and we didn't find them." He asked shrugging his shoulders.

The moon pool! Lyla's eyes widened and she turned to look at him.

"Of course! How didn't I think of that?! They're probably in the moon pool! Zac, you're genius."

They both smiled at each other and tiredly stood up to run and dive into the water.

In a matter of seconds they reached the moon pool and swam up the opening. When they crabbed the surface with their heads they realized Nixie and Sirena were there asleep.

Lyla and Zac smiled to each other and finally relaxed. Soon enough they drifted off to sleep.

The next morning the first one to wake up was Zac. He yawned sleepily and was about to stretch his arms when he realized Lyla's head was rested on his shoulder and she was still asleep. He admired her face and a smile crept up to his lips. He lifted her hand to remove carefully a wet piece of hair from her face, when she moved and opened her eyes.

"Oh, 'morning, Zac." She said lifting her head from his shoulder and stretching.

" 'Morning to you, too." Zac whispered back.

He casted a quick look to the other two girls.

"Sirena and Nixie are still asleep. What do you say of stretching our tails a bit in a good race and then going to the cafe for a drink?" He asked shooting Lyla a smile.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good."

And the two swam out of the cavern.

When Nixie and Sirena woke up it was already eleven in the morning. Nixie yawned tiredly followed by Sirena and the two sleepily looked around.

"We should try to find Lyla." Nixie said.

"And Zac." Sirena added.

The brunette rolled her eyes but didn't respond.

"I say we go to the cafe." She said instead. "She might be there."

"Ok, let's go." Sirena nodded and the two swam away.

When the two entered the cafe they looked around and spotted Lyla and Zac sitting on a table and talking quietly.

The two girls rushed to their direction.

"Nixie, Sirena, you're awake!" Lyla exclaimed with a smile. "Speaking of..why weren't you on that beach I left you at?! We've been looking for you the whole evening last night! And when we finally got tired and swam up to the moon pool we found you there!"

"It's ok. We were bored and wanted to take a peek around and ended up getting lost, but then we found the way to the beach again and swam to the moon pool."

"Just don't disappear on us again like that, ok?! Actually we've got some really important news. That unconscious girl.."

"..is awake. Yeah." Nixie interrupted Lyla. "We know that."

"What? How?!" Lyla glared at them both.

"Before we got lost we reached a trailer park. Apparently she lives there because the brunette guy that works here drove her with his motorcycle." Sirena explained.

"And how do you know?!" Nixie questioned.

"Zac knows because somehow he had helped her to wake up and I know because I saw her in the moon pool when she came to talk to her friends."

"So now we can finally concentrate on whatever happened to us and how to reverse it." Sirena grinned.

Lyla and Zac exchanged looks.

"What?" Nixie spat. "What is it _now_?!"

"Well, I sort of lost my moon ring."

"What?!" Sirena and Nixie gasped simultaneously.

"How?" Nixie asked crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"It's a long story." Zac said. "But we know where it is and we only have to take it back."

"Back?" Sirena lifted her eyebrows.

"It's in the hands of the other mermaids."

"You mean.." Sirena began.

"Mhmm." Zac nodded.

"So what do we do?" Nixie asked.

"First of all we have to find out where they're keeping it. Then we go there and get it back." Lyla explained.

"And how are we going to find out where it's been kept?"

"Easy. We're going to follow them around again."

"Um, we are four and they are eight?" Sirena lifted her eyebrows.

"We'll follow the girls just like the first time." Lyla explained.

"But this time try not to let anything happen that could be a distraction." Nixie told Zac who only rolled his eyes annoyed.

"Don't put this on me."

"Oh, was it someone else's fault?!"

"Nixie, enough!" Lyla cut her off.

"Guys, here they come." Sirena whispered looking at the four girls entering the cafe.

Zac and the girls followed the four newcomers with their looks only to see them disappearing into the office.

"Let the party start." Nixie marked out sarcastically, playing with the straw in her drink.

{*}

Rikki and Bella walked inside the office, followed by Cleo and Emma.

"Ok, everybody, we need a plan." The curly blond was the first to talk. "We need to decide how are going to keep that ring safe."

"I was thinking of hiding it somewhere at my place." Cleo shrugged her shoulders.

"And take the risk of Kym finding it? No way." Rikki objected.

"What if we hide it somewhere at the moon pool."

"Now it's not safe there either." The curly blond shook her head then her eyes widened. "Cleo, you have it with you right now, don't you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Give it to me."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

The brunette reluctantly pulled out a small jewelry bag from her pocket and handed it to her friend. Rikki opened it, taking out the ring.

"The only way we can be sure it's safe is if we wear it. Neither of you can touch it, so.." The curly blond put it on her finger, immediately feeling the rush of energy going through her body.

"Rikki, no!" The girls yelled simultaneously.

"Don't you remember what happened in the moon pool?!" Cleo cried out desperately.

"It's ok, Cleo, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Cleo asked suspiciously, lifting her eyebrows.

"Positive." The curly blond nodded. "Besides if it has chosen me for it's owner it shouldn't hurt me. Wearing it on my finger is the only way to keep it safe."

The girls weren't really convinced, but still nodded. Cleo checked her watch.

"I'm going to be late for work. I've got to go."

"And the band is having a soundcheck in a few minutes." Bella added.

"I'll help you with the paperwork until Zane shows up." Emma suggested to Rikki.

"Thanks." The said girl nodded in appreciation.

Then Cleo, Bella and Rikki walked out of the office, leaving Emma alone inside. Rikki went behind the counter to get some orders and prepare them, Bella went up to the stage and Cleo hurried out of the cafe.

The curly blond prepared some orders when Zane arrived at the cafe.

"Hey, stranger!" He greeted her with a quick peck on the cheek. "How's the front?"

"Manageable." Rikki responded.

Zane smiled and was about to say something when he froze realizing she's wearing the weird moon ring on her finger.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" He groaned desperately pointing to her hand. "You know you shouldn't wear that thing on, it's dangerous."

"No, it's not." Rikki was irritated. "And like I explained the girls it's the only way to keep it safe. If it has chosen me for it's owner it won't do any harm to me."

Zane pulled her shoulders causing her to turn to look at him and put his palm on her cheek.

"I'm just worried about you."

And he kissed her before pulling her into a hug.

Rikki quickly slid out of his embrace.

"People are waiting for their orders." Was the only thing she said before going back to serving the clients.


End file.
